Fugue, Part 3: 'First Day'

The next morning, she woke to the sound of buzzing. She jumped up, confused and frightened, momentarily forgetful of all that had happened the night before. She looked around and discovered it as an alarm clock making the noise. It was flashing 8:00 AM. She rolled over and hit the snooze button. Then something curious happened. Text scrolled across the alarm clock face,

“GOOD MORNING, MISS EVENSON, WELCOME TO YOUR FIRST DAY ON THE JOB.”

If she hadn't been so groggy, she would have been more frightened, but she just rolled out of bed and made her way to the shower. Compared to the low-pressure, arctic-temperature shower that she was used to at dear Mr. Tchai's place, this fancy new shower left her rejuvenated and ready for the day ahead. After getting dressed in her uniform -just a black skirt, a white blouse, and a hair tie- she grabbed her manual, an apple from her mini-fridge, and was ready to go. She opened up the manual to page one, where the giant words “Welcome, valued employee, to the service of Baron Von Fugue!” filled the page. Well, I finally know who I'm working for. She scanned the first few pages which were a basic description of the job, cleaning the floors, polishing the armor, stocking the food, basic stuff. Then she got to the chapter marked “Day 1: Welcome aboard!” She sat down in a fancy leather chair and began reading.
“Because it is your first day and the demands of the mansion are so large, you will spend the first week being trained on how to do basic operations expected to maintain the household. At the end of this week, you will be expected to continue these maintenances in regular time.”
So I have a week of grace period. Well, that's longer than most jobs I've had. She began to read the basics of where everything was, and went to where the manual told her to go. She learned how to properly mop the floors, which was quite different than mopping the floors at a Subway like she already knew how to do. She learned what food goes where, how to wipe down the stair banisters, how to dust old furniture, and much, much more. She was lucky that she had always been a good student and had such a wonderful memory when it came to instructions. At first it did seem a little much, but she picked up on things quite quickly. Work is easy when you don't have a Carl breathing down your neck, she thought to herself as she polished the horns on an elephant head hanging in the trophy room. During her lunch break, she did a little more exploring, but stayed away from the basement and 3rd  floor again. She decided to better familiarize herself with the second and third floors, so she wouldn't get lost.....again. After lunch, she learned how to filter the pool, clean a telescope lens, tune a piano, and even chalk a pool stick. Night seemed to come very fast, and Ally was almost sad when she came to the page reading “Congratulations! You've completed day one!” She let out a sigh, and walked back up to her room, a little tired, but satisfied with a hard day's work. Once she reached the third floor, she opened her manual again, to look ahead at what she would be doing tomorrow. But before she could look at day 2, something caught her eye on the last page of the Day 1 section.

“IMPORTANT HOUSE RULES
1.NEVER enter any room blocked off on your map.
2.Do not disclose anything about this house to anyone.
3.Do not, under any circumstances, leave your room after 12:00AM until 8:00AM the following morning.”

The first two made sense, but the third one kind of puzzled her. Mr. Fugue (as she had come to call him) had told her about the secrecy, and the map made it abundantly clear not to entire blackened rooms, but she had never been told that she would have a curfew. It almost concerned her that she was not allowed outside of her room in early morning more than the fact that she couldn't tell anyone anything about this house, even that she worked and lived here. She looked at the clock. 11:47. The first day had gone really well, might as well not ruin it by breaking rule number 3. She found the door to her room and went inside. This time she went to the mini-fridge, grabbed a soda, and plopped herself down in front of the TV. Back in her old apartment, she didn't even have cable. Here she had nearly every channel known to man, and a 72” wide-screen screen of beauty. She sipped her Dr. Pepper quietly and let out a contented sigh. Her life had gone from horrid to wonderful in one day and she couldn't wait to see what tomorrow would hold for her.